The No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, driven by Regan Smith, is seen on the grid prior to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Cheez-It 355 at Watkins Glen International on Sunday. Smith replaced Tony Stewart for the Cheez-It 355 At The Glen race.

The No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, driven by Regan Smith, is seen on the grid prior to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Cheez-It 355 at Watkins Glen International on Sunday. Smith replaced Tony Stewart for the Cheez-It 355 At The Glen race. (Jeff Zelevansky / Getty Images)

You can't get inside Tony Stewart's head -- or heart -- but YouTube video raises legit questions of intent.

No way authorities can conclude yet whether charges are or aren't appropriate.

Racing organizations at every level need to crack down on tradition of racers confronting cars on track.

Quick, digital-only thoughts from In the Wake of the News columnistDavid Haugh.

For openers ...

Nobody will ever know what Tony Stewart was thinking Saturday night as his car approached Kevin Ward Jr. on the dirt track in Canandaigua, N.Y.

Nobody will ever know if Stewart tried to intimidate or avoid Ward, who was on the track gesturing after Stewart’s car bumped Ward’s one lap earlier badly enough for it to collide into the wall.

Mystery always will surround the tragedy after the 20-year-old Ward was pronounced dead at a local hospital 45 minutes after Stewart’s car struck him at a speed between 30 and 35 miles per hour, according to Ontario County police.

With a Cup race Sunday at Watkins Glen, N.Y., much focus quickly and inappropriately shifted to whether Stewart would get behind the wheel. Others wondered if Stewart eventually will go behind bars. A young man died after being hit by a car Stewart drove. Ward’s family and his memory deserve answers to tough questions. Stewart, perhaps NASCAR’s most temperamental driver, could struggle earning the benefit of the doubt publicly if it comes down to interpreting his emotions.

He released a carefully worded statement that expressed shock and grief for Ward and his family yet steered clear of addressing his state of mind at the time of the accident. Ontario County Sheriff Philip Povero announced at a news conference Sunday there would be no criminal charges filed “at this time’’ but the investigation was ongoing. Stewart, who wisely opted not to drive Sunday, is said to be cooperating.

“At this very moment, there are no facts in hand that would substantiate or support a criminal charge or indicate criminal intent on the part of any individual,’’ Povero said.

Have police officials interviewed Tyler Graves, a sprint-car racer and friend of Ward’s who says he saw everything from his seat in the Turn 1 grandstands? Graves shared a chilling account of what happened with Bob Pockrass of The Sporting News.

“I know Tony could see him. I know how you can see out of these cars. When Tony got close to him, he hit the throttle,’’ Graves told TSN. “When you hit a throttle on a sprint car, the car sets sideways. It set sideways, the right rear tire hit Kevin, Kevin was sucked underneath and was stuck under it for a second or two and then it threw him about 50 yards.”

I'm not a dirt track racer, nor are you Haugh. Tony Stewart owns and drives on more dirt tracks than most people reading this ever will combined. I'm more apt to let the police investigate and acquire their own expert witnesses rather than take and run with the inflammatory...

That sentence keeps popping up in my head. Watching the video on YouTube appears to support what Graves suggested, though it remains open to interpretation. It isn’t clear-cut enough either way for officials to conclude anything about charges without hearing from more witnesses, especially Graves. Authorities must exhaust every resource available. Keep digging.

In the meantime, NASCAR and every racing organization immediately needs to impose rules that heavily punish drivers who walk onto the track after accidents as a deterrent so a tragic death like this never happens again.

ICYMI

Peer respect matters to pro athletes matters more than anything and Doug McDermott has it – at least from his fellow NBA rookies. In a survey of NBA rookies forNBA.com, Bucks rookie Jabari Parker overwhelmingly was voted the rookie most likely to become a star and have the best career but McDermott finished second in both categories. McDermott was the overwhelming choice of rookies for best shooter among draftees – getting 39.5 percent of first-place votes.

ICYMI 2

The mane event at Culver (Ind.) Academies for Notre Dame football practice last Friday came early. Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly – the Fifth Horseman? – made a dramatic entrance on the back of a horse named Patton. Kelly, who has no history on horseback, gave the school its most famous equine-related photo since Jim Crowley, Elmer Layden, Don Miller and Harry Stuhldreher posed together as part of the “Four Horsemen” backfield in 1924. Do Domers approve of Kelly’s sense of humor and timing? Vote yay or neigh.

Re-hashtag

#offthemark

Northwestern needs a strong start if it wants to have a bounce-back season, a task made tougher with the two-game suspension of star running back Venric Mark for violating team rules. No matter who the Wildcats play in those games – California and Northern Illinois – it’s a disappointing development from a veteran expected to be a leader for a team that needs him.

Something tells me Baez’s money won’t be good at most of the city’s steakhouses.

As easy as ...

1. Applaud Bears safety Chris Conte for speaking with confidence and showing an edge Sunday after returning to the practice field. What did critics want Conte to say, that he’s eternally scarred from the Randall Cobb touchdown that helped the Packers beat the Bears in the 2013 regular-season finale? That moment was a microcosm of Conte’s season, a breakdown that summed up so many broken plays on a Bears defense that stunk. Dwelling on the past serves no purpose for Conte or any other member of the unit. So what if Conte has a list of goals and people he wants to prove wrong. A year ago at this time, he was considered one of the NFC’s bright young free safeties. His attitude implies he plans to regain that status. Now he gets to back it up.

2. Stop yourself if you’re trying to make more out of Johnny Manziel’s exhibition debut than it deserves. Manziel completed 7 of 11 passes for 63 yards and carried six times for 27 yards. Or, put another way: meh. Manziel showed good elusiveness with his feet, as expected, but to say anything more about his performance would be exaggerating. Watching on television, Manziel looked small, like a 2014 version of Doug Flutie, which raises legitimate questions about durability if he runs as much as he will need to if the Browns play him as a rookie. He’s fast but not that fast. Brian Hoyer remains the starter, not that he dazzled anybody either, but public pressure will mount to play Manziel – probably before he is ready.

I'm not a dirt track racer, nor are you Haugh. Tony Stewart owns and drives on more dirt tracks than most people reading this ever will combined. I'm more apt to let the police investigate and acquire their own expert witnesses rather than take and run with the inflammatory...

3. Just let Rory McIlroy enjoy being golf’s most dominant player at 25 before wondering whether he can win as many major tournaments as Tiger Woods (14) or Jack Nicklaus (18). At least hold off on such talk until McIlroy gets to double digits, and Sunday’s PGA title at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville gave the likable Northern Irishman four, including the last two. We always are so quick in sports media to project the future that we often fail to appreciate the present, which finds McIlroy filling the sport’s void left by Woods’ bad stretch of injury and inconsistency. As good as McIlroy was, the sportsmanship shown by Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler on the 18th hole was even better. Playing in the group ahead of McIlroy, they let McIlroy tee off before officials blew the horn which could have delayed the finish until Monday due to darkness. All around, it was a terrific weekend for golf.

“The overriding philosophy is to get to know each other, to develop levels of trust between each other — coaches and players, players and coaches — and to define our behavior through respect and humility. We’re going to respect everybody around us. We’re going to treat them in high regard and we’re going to understand what humility means, which is that we’re part of something that’s bigger than ourselves. It’s really that simple.

“If you understand the definition of those three things and you love football and want to play it and are a baller, we’ll find a place for you. We’re also in a position where we don’t expect everybody to understand that immediately. That’s a process. That’s a transformational process. It doesn’t take one week. It doesn’t take one month. It may not take a year. It may take more. But that’s the day-to-day message that we’re sending our coaches and I’m sending to our players.”

It’s hard to imagine similar words coming out of the mouths of Chicago coaching legends such as Mike Ditka, Joel Quenneville or Ozzie Guillen. But the cerebral approach to team-building only will be properly appreciated if Trestman’s team wins.

Tony Stewart is perhaps the most temperamental driver in NASCAR, a trait's that caused him to be involved in numerous run-ins with others during his career yet also has made him endearing to a legion of NASCAR fans.

After a violation of undisclosed team rules, Northwestern senior running back Venric Mark has been suspended for the first two games of the Wildcats’ season for an undisclosed violation of team policy, the university announced Friday.